Short version: Are there any foods that a healthy chicken cannot eat even once without suffering significant damage to their health?
(Note: My question relates more to "people food" rather than toxic plants or fungi.)
Long version: We are raising our first ever batch of pullets who are approaching 3 months old. Their main diet is a pullet-specfic feed. Like most people, from time to time we have produce that has become too ripe for human consumption. If the produce isn't moldy or rotting, we will give it to the girls.
Because I am a chicken novice, I make it a habit to do a quick online search before we give the girls anything new. Most of what I read seems to indicate that you can run into problems if you are consistently feeding chickens a particular item that is either toxic or nutritionally unbalanced. This has made me wonder if essentially any type of "people food" can be made a treat of once in a blue moon.
Take apple seeds for example (an overripe apple was today's treat,) yes they are toxic, but would an accidental seed once or twice a year cause significant discomfort or damage to a chicken's system?
Thanks!
(Note: My question relates more to "people food" rather than toxic plants or fungi.)
Long version: We are raising our first ever batch of pullets who are approaching 3 months old. Their main diet is a pullet-specfic feed. Like most people, from time to time we have produce that has become too ripe for human consumption. If the produce isn't moldy or rotting, we will give it to the girls.
Because I am a chicken novice, I make it a habit to do a quick online search before we give the girls anything new. Most of what I read seems to indicate that you can run into problems if you are consistently feeding chickens a particular item that is either toxic or nutritionally unbalanced. This has made me wonder if essentially any type of "people food" can be made a treat of once in a blue moon.
Take apple seeds for example (an overripe apple was today's treat,) yes they are toxic, but would an accidental seed once or twice a year cause significant discomfort or damage to a chicken's system?
Thanks!
Its highly unlikely. Key to treats is to avoid things like onions and other things in the "don't" column and to limit them to 10% or less of their total diet. 
